experiments made with the persons afflicted, by bringing the persons to touch them; and it was observed, that when they were in the midst of their fits, to all men's apprehension wholly deprived of all sense and understanding, closing their fists in such manner as that the strongest man in the Court could not force them open, yet by the least touch of one of these supposed witches, Rose Cullender by name, they would suddenly shriek out, opening their hands, which accident would not happen by the touch of any other person. "And lest they might privately see when they were touched by the said Rose Cullender, they were blinded with their own aprons, and the touching took the same effect as before. “There was an ingenious person that objected there might be a great fallacy in this experiment, and there ought not to be any stress put upon this to convict the parties, for the children might counterfeit this their distemper, and perceiving what was done to them, they might in such manner suddenly alter the motion and gesture of their bodies, on purpose to induce persons to believe that they were not natural, but wrought strangely by the touch of the prisoners. "Wherefore, to avoid this scruple, it was privately desired by the judge, that the Lord Cornwallis, Sir Edmund Bacon, and Mr. Serjeant Keeling, and some other gentlemen there in Court, would attend one of the distempered persons in the farther part of the Hall, whilst she was in her fits, and then to send for one of the witches, to try what would then happen, which they did accordingly; and Amy Duny was conveyed from the bar and brought to the maid: they put an apron before her eyes, and then one other person touched her hand, which produced the same effect as the touch of the witch did in the Court. Whereupon the gentlemen returned, openly protesting, that they did believe the whole transaction of this business was a mere imposture. "This brought the Court and all persons into a stand” (v). (v) State Trials, vol. 6, p. 697. As a sample of the evidence, I quote the following witness— "Margaret Arnold, sworn and examined, saith, that the said Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy came to her house about the thirtieth of November last; her brother acquainted her that he thought they were bewitched, for that they vomited pins; and farther informed her of the several passages which occurred at his own house. This deponent said, that she gave no credit to that which was related to her, conceiving possibly the children might use some deceit in putting pins in their mouths themselves. Wherefore this deponent unpinned all their clothes, and left not so much as one pin upon them, but sewed all the clothes they wore, instead of pinning of them. But this deponent saith, that notwithstanding all this care and circumspection of hers, the children afterwards raised at several times at least thirty pins in her presence, and had most fierce and violent fits upon them. "The children would in their fits cry out against Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, affirming that they saw them, and they threatened to torment them ten times more if they complained of them. At some times the children [only] would see things run up and down the house in the appearance of mice; and one of them suddenly snapt one with the tongs, and threw it in the fire, and it screeched out like a rat. "At another time, the younger child being out of her fits went out of doors to take a little fresh air, and presently a little thing like a bee flew upon her face, and would have gone into her mouth, whereupon the child ran in all haste to the door to get into the house again, screeking out in a most terrible manner; whereupon this deponent made haste to come to her, but before she could get to her, the child fell into her swooning fit, and at last with much pain, straining herself, she vomited up a twopenny nail with a broad head; and after that the child had raised up the nail she came to her understanding, and being demanded by this deponent how she came by this nail, she answered, that the bee brought this nail, and forced it into her mouth" (w). The first instance of a judge instructing the jury that they were to consider only the act, and not the intention,-in other words, that they were to find a man guilty without reference to his motives, has been partially noticed in the case of John Udall. He was indicted for a capital offence in the shape of a libel, and was not allowed to prove the purity of his intention, nor was the jury suffered to inquire into anything but the act of publication. A doctrine so convenient to tyrannical judges, and so revolting to common sense, could not fail of becoming a favourite tenet among our lawyers. Accordingly this judge-made law continued till it was abolished by act of Parliament. And in the case which I am now about to cite, of Keach, who was tried before Lord Chief Justice Hyde for having published certain Primmers that contained articles contrary to the Common Prayer, it shot up to a still greater height of absurdity and injustice. Udall was condemned through the artifice of a judge called Clarke; but his conduct was far surpassed by that of Chief Justice Hyde in the case to which I am referring, of which the following account has been transmitted to us (x):· "The next assize holden for the said county was at Aylsbury, on the 8th and 9th of October, 1664, Lord Chief Justice Hyde being judge. On the first of which days, in the forenoon, Mr. Keach was called upon; who, answering to his name, was brought to the bar, and examined as follows:" Judge.-"Did you write this book? the Primmers in his hand]." Keach. "I writ most of it." [Holding out one of Judge." What have you to do to take other men's trades out of their hands? I believe you can preach as well as write (w) State Trials, vol. 6, p. 693. books. Thus it is to let you, and such as you are, have the Scripture to wrest to your own destruction. You have made in your book a new Creed: I have seen three Creeds before; but I never saw a fourth till you made one." Keach.-"I have not made a Creed, but a confession of the Christian faith." Judge.-"Well that is a Creed then." Keach.--"Your Lordship said you had never seen but three Creeds; but thousands of Christians have made a confession of their faith." “After this the judge observed to the Court several things which were written in the said book, concerning Baptism and the Ministers of the Gospel, which were contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England, and so a breach of the Act of Uniformity." Keach." My Lord, as to those things Judge." You shall not preach here, nor give the reasons of your damnable doctrine, to seduce and infect his Majesty's subjects. These are not things for such as you are to meddle with, and to pretend to write books of divinity: but I will try you for it before I sleep." "After this he gave directions to the clerk to draw up the indictment; and the witnesses were sworn, and ordered to stand by the clerk till the indictment was finished, and then to go with it to the grand inquest. "Then the witnesses were sworn, who were Neal and Whitehall. "Neal deposed: That Justice Strafford sent for him to his house; when he came there the justice sent him back again for his staff of authority; which being done, he went with the justice to one Moody's stall, and asked for some Primmers which he had; he answered, that he had none. That from thence they went to Mr. Keach's house, where first they saw his wife, who told them he was in an inward room. They asked her if there were not some Primmers in the house. She said there was; and about thirty were brought forth and delivered to them. "Then Justice Strafford himself was also examined: he said, that he found the Primmers now before the Court in Benj. Keach's house, and seized them; and that the prisoner at the bar had confessed before him that he writ and composed the said book. "Then a copy of the prisoner's examination before the said justice, signed with his own hand, was produced and read; wherein was contained, that the prisoner being asked whether he was the author or writer of the said book, answered, Yes, he was. And further declared, that he delivered a part of the copy to one Oviat, a printer at London, since dead; and that the rest of the copy he sent up by another hand, but that he knew not who printed it: that about forty of them were sent down to him, of which he had dispersed about twelve, and that the price was fivepence each book. "After this the judge called for a Common Prayer Book, and laid it before him, and ordered one of the Primmers to be given to the gentlemen of the jury, and bid them look on those parts where the leaves were turned down." Judge." Clerk, read those sentences in the indictment which are taken out of the book, that the jury may turn to them, and see that the said positions are contained in the book." Clerk."Q. Who are the right subjects of Baptism? A. Believers, or godly men and women only, who can make confession of their faith and repentance." Judge." This is contrary to the Book of Common Prayer, for that appoints infants to be baptised as well as men and women. [Here he read several places in the Liturgy, wherein the baptising of infants is enjoined and directed].” Clerk reads." Q. How shall it then go with the saints? A. Oh, very well! It is the day that they have longed for: then they shall hear that sentence, Come, ye blessed of my 6 |